June 19, 2006
When Kailani emailed and asked me to participate in a carnival, I was a little confused. There’s no cotton candy, and there are no rides. . . but there are prizes and tons of great writing. If you’re interested and don’t already have enough blogs to read, check it out. Anyone can participate. . .
Take me to the Carnival of Family Life. . .
Just to update you. . . the little summer flu we’ve got going on here is none other than the Coxsackie Virus. If you’ve been fortunate enough to avoid ever having it or watching your kids go through it, consider yourself extremely lucky. Lil C is on the mend and finally ate some solid food today. Her throat, like her mama’s last week, was just too sore to get anything besides fluids down the chute. So far, Big I and Mr. BBM have avoided it. We’re hoping our bout with it is soon over.
Edited to add: As of this evening, Big I has a fever of 100. Will it never end?
June 16, 2006
Lil C has a fever of 102.5. That’s with the Tylenol. She is cranky, miserable, and I can’t blame her. I was there on Tuesday. It wasn’t fun. I am feeling much better as of this afternoon. In fact, I was feeling so much better that when the head instructor of my karate school emailed to say he could meet me at the dojo for some private review. . . I knew I had to get there tonight.
Lil C was only slightly warm when I left at 5 p.m. I gave her some Tylenol, fed her, and went on my way. The plan was to get there by 5:30, work out for a half hour, and then be home by 6:30. Two of my instructors were there, so we started talking. We talked for a while and then got down to business. We went through all of the material for my 4th kyu test. . . all of it several times. I got home around 8:00 p.m. Oops.
My husband was thrilled with me. He had made dinner while holding a screaming inconsolable baby. At one point he had to turn dinner off so he could hold our screaming inconsolable daughter. Lil C finally passed out in protest after screaming her head off looking for me. My husband said he’s never heard her cry like that. I felt horrible about it. Really, I did.
At the same time, I haven’t been to karate in three weeks. I needed to go and have some one-on-one time; and it was glorious. I savored every second, even when my instructor was contorting my arms into extremely uncomfortable positions to demonstrate yet another way to get out of a choke hold.
Official testing is in the morning, but unless Lil C has a miraculous recovery, I’m not going to make it. Tonight, while practicing, my instructor told me that I have passed, so if I don’t make official testing tomorrow it’s not a big deal. I will be promoted next week with everyone else. I’m just going to go in before my regular class and run through the kata’s as a formality one more time. 4th kyu. . . three brown stripes on my green belt. When the stripe goes on the belt, I will be over the hump. I will be closer to black belt than I am to white. Next time I test, I will earn my brown belt. So cool.
The best thing about tonight is that after a couple run throughs on my weapons kata, and after coming home and running through it a few more times, I am able to do it well and with confidence. My open hand kata is in great shape as well. The last time I tested, I felt I didn’t deserve the promotion. I felt I passed by the skin of my teeth. I felt like they had given me a gift. I don’t like feeling like that. This time I don’t. I’ve earned it; I know my stuff.
Next week I start looking forward towards 3rd kyu and the material I need to learn. . .
Tonight I’m just going to take care of my baby (who will be up every hour on the hour I’m sure), and pray that Big I is spared this crazy summer flu.
June 15, 2006
Reasons why I did not go to karate today:
- I still feel like crap: sore throat, cough, headache, body aches.
- All of my wonderful regular readers commented and let me know that it’s o.k. to not go to karate tonight (Even though I knew this, it’s especially good to hear it from very dedicated MA people. I appreciate it. . . greatly.)
- Testing can wait. If I’m not ready, I’m not ready. I’ll survive the disappointment.
Reason why there is no picture for this segment:
- I still feel like crap,and by feel like crap I mean "look like crap."
- Because I still feel like crap, a picture would be scary. In fact, it would probably be so scary that you would ditch reading/viewing the rest of this entry. . . and that would make me sad.
- A picture would be scary because I showered last night before bed, and went to sleep with wet hair. Wet hair + fitfull fever-filled sleep=super scary bad hair day. So, no picture.
Moving right along. . . in honor of Father’s Day. . .
Reason why I am proud of my Dad:
The picture below is my dad on his ocean kayak. He’s beyond the swell of the wave. His oar is sticking up. He has a two-man kayak and still went out in ridiculously rough waves. I wasn’t proud of that part, just sort of scared and hoping I wouldn’t have to use my lifeguarding skills from my teenage years because that was a long time ago. . .
The thing I’m proud of is this. . .
See that speck of orange down the beach? In all the white foam of the waves? That’s him, well, actually not him. That’s his kayak, seconds after the one end dug into the sand and catapulted him out of the kayak and onto the ocean floor. I’m proud of the fact that he is still able to walk. It didn’t look pretty. I did, however, have to go running down the beach so I could drag the kayak back to the beach house since his back was killing him after being slammed onto his side. I’m pretty proud of myself for that not so little feat as well.
Reasons why I am proud of Big I:
- This is her climbing a rock wall. This is the shorter of the two she climbed. After she scaled this one without a problem, she climbed a 22. FOOT. WALL. while wearing SANDALS. She had never done this before. She totally rocked, no pun intended. People were clapping and cheering. That’s my Dad at the top of the wall cheering her on. She is so darn brave. I would have NEVER done this at her age. Come to think of it, uh-uh, still wouldn’t at my current age. (Notice the skull and cross bones "tattoo" on her calf.)
This is her climbing the 22 ft. wall. It was definitely more challenging.
This is right after she rang the bell before repelling back down the wall. By repelling I mean, banging off of all the rocks because she didn’t understand what repelling meant. Oh well, who cares? The crowd had dissipated after she rang the bell anyway.
I am also proud of her because she taught herself how to swim underneath the water while on vacation. She’s been doing a psuedo doggy-paddle thing since she turned three, but this underwater thing is opening up new horizons for her. It’s going to be a fun summer.
I am also proud of what a great Big Sister she is to Lil C. They are great buddies.
Reasons why I’m proud of Lil C:
- She has stellar table manners. . .
- She is a very neat eater. . .
No, really. . .
- And then there’s this. . .
She’s blurry because she’s totally running. . . Yes, running. Even having gorilla arms can’t help my back now. I’m also super proud of her because she did the first baby sign back to me this week. For weeks I’ve been doing the signs for "more" (pointer finger taps middle of palm) and "all done" (arm waves side to side). I know some of you probably think I’m nuts, but I’m not teaching her ASL. I’m teaching her baby signs and I firmly believe it is THE reason why Big I did not really have any temper issues, at least not during the early years. It also is less frustrating for me while I’m trying to figure out if she’s cranky because she wants another bite or if she’s cranky because she wants me to take that bite and shove it. She let me know that it was the latter this week, and for that I am both proud and thankful. It saves us both the frustration of not knowing. It’s also super cute to see her start doing the signs back at you.
Reasons why I love this place (my vacation place):
- Lighthouses. . . one of my favorite things.
- and then there’s this. . .
June 14, 2006
Getting caught up on my blog reading? No. Practicing my kata? No. Getting ready for testing? No. Why, you ask? I’m sick. Sick. Sick. Sick. I have some sort of summer flu, complete with a fever (which is finally backing the hell off as of this afternoon), awful body aches, a killer headache, and swollen glands that are killing my throat. I got back from vacation Saturday night, had two days to get back to normal, and then I was hit with this. Fun. The thing that’s really fun? Lil C is standing up EVERYWHERE, and she’s not exactly what you would call stable. I am a human shadow, a sick human shadow. I don’t have any family members who don’t work; and I don’t have a babysitter I can call to take care of the munchkins. I am seriously pining for the school-aged sick days, when my Mom would fix me soup and bring me drinks every hour on the hour, get me tissues, keep things quiet, etc. etc. etc. so I could rest. Ahhh, the school-aged sick days, full of morning talk shows, followed by Gilligan’s Island and then an afternoon of soaps, followed by Oprah. I miss those days. A lot.
So, I emailed my karate school and told them I wouldn’t be in class because I’m sick and my instructor emailed me back to say that I should try to make it in this week because it’s pre-testing. WHAT??????? PRE-TESTING!!!!! That means that testing is not four weeks away. That means that it is either this week or next. Where did I lose those weeks? How will I EVER be ready? Unless I find a print out of my weapons kata, I am in big fat trouble. Also, for this testing, we have to do break-falls (which means, throw yourself on the ground without getting hurt, if that’s possible). Break-falls with a flu-ridden body. Yeah. So. Not. Happening. I am hoping I can postpone my testing for a week or two, so I don’t have to wait until September. I don’t want to get behind. I spent enough time getting behind while at home with Lil C in those early post-birth months.
I’m going to make a little prediction here. . . as soon as I start feeling well enough to work on my kata, one or both (most likely both) of my girls will come down with my little summer flu. As far as that kata update I promised. . . we’re at a stand still people. A big sick unhappy stand still. This Mommy needs to call off work, but just can’t. And in case you weren’t already convinced of it. . . Yes, I am feeling sorry for myself.
June 12, 2006
I AM Black Belt Mama.
I WANT my husband, the chemist, to invent an SPF pill so that I don’t have to slather any more sunscreen on me or my kids.
I WISH I would win the Powerball while in the state of Delaware, so that I could win without anyone knowing, and surprise my friends and family with enormous checks and then move to the Outer Banks.
I MISS the days when I was in college, after I first met my husband, when we would go to parties, hang out at bars playing darts and eating wings, dancing, and having a blast.
I HEAR the ocean waves outside my bedroom window. I LOVE this beach house.
I WONDER if my sister’s boyfriend will ever freaking propose already. Seriously, what is he waiting for? The diamond monopoly to end???
I REGRET not having a midwife deliver my first daughter, because I probably would have looked less like the girl from the exorcist if a midwife had been in charge.
I AM NOT what you would call a "sweetheart." My husband says I’m his "spit-fire". It sort of ticks me off when he calls me that. I prefer to think that I spit venom as opposed to fire.
I DANCE to anything hip-hop, or rap with a dance beat, especially 50 cents "You can find me in a club. . . "
I AM NOT ALWAYS the easiest person to get along with. I can be quite demanding.
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS crocheted baby blankets, booties, and hats. (I know. Who saw that coming from the Black Belt Mama?)
I WRITE to my daughters in journals that I plan to give them some day.
I CONFUSE birthdays of my friends and family members all the time. So much so, in fact, that I usually just keep some "Happy Belated Birthday" cards in the house at all times.
I NEED to have Paul Newman’s Family Style Italian salad dressing in my house at all times. It’s so bad, that I’ve even considered buying little packets of it to carry it around in my purse like an old lady so I can have decent dressing on my salads at restaurants.
I SHOULD have started taking karate classes when I was younger. It would have helped me out in so many ways.
I START craving chocolate each day around lunch time.
I FINISH arguments, because like Calista, who tagged me, I absolutely must have the last word.
I TAG everyone in my blog roll who hasn’t already done this. (Check back and let me know you have!)
This was written before the food poisoning episode at the beach. If I had written it during or after the food poisoning episode it would have looked a whole lot different. I’m sure you can imagine.
I am back from vacation; and want to thank you all for your well wishes with the whole food poisoning thing. I was able to recover after a day or two and enjoy the rest of my vacation. I made very sure to avoid scallops for the rest of the week. I took my chances with Mad Cow Disease for the rest of the week and ate steaks and burgers instead.
Now, it’s back to the daily grind. And by daily grind, I mean HOLY CRAP, I TOTALLY NEED TO BABY PROOF! In just two weeks, Lil C has changed so much. I wonder how I will ever check my email or blog again while she’s awake. I think that it’s just not going to happen. She is now crawling 90 mph across the room. Of course, she goes for the most dangerous things of all: the marble slab in front of the fire place, the entertainment center with the glass door, any little toys Big I has left out. Not only is she crawling ridiculously fast, but she is also standing and pulling herself up like you would not believe. She can do it from a sitting position; she can also do it from the lying on her belly position (She has ridiculously long arms, just like her mama.) Big I had some fear when it came to standing up and trying to cruise around furniture; not Lil C. She has no fear. She just lets go whenever the mood moves her so I have now become her human shadow. There will be no rest people, from here on out.
Speaking of no rest, I test for 4th kyu (green belt with three brown stripes) in four weeks. . . four ridiculously short weeks. . .
Vacation pictures and kata progress to follow this week. . .
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